And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (Hebrews 10:24-25)
Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. (1 John 4:11)
The following list provides examples of the social determinants of health, which can influence health equity in positive and negative ways:
Income and social protection
Education
Unemployment and job insecurity
Working life conditions
Food insecurity
Housing, basic amenities and the environment
Early childhood development
Social inclusion and non-discrimination
Structural conflict
Access to affordable health services of decent quality.
Research shows that the social determinants can be more important than health care or lifestyle choices in influencing health. (WHO retrieved from https://www.who.int/health-topics/social-determinants-of-health#tab=tab_1. The highlights are mine).
This week the Gardiner family engaged in some “Adventures in Healthcare” that really have shown how strained our system is these days. Before I elaborate any further, all of us are fine. All of us have gotten the medical attention we need and there really is no concern about our health.
The first thing that happened is that one of my kids came down with a throat infection. A simple prescription of antibiotics would’ve taken care of it, but the difficulties in accessing care finally resulted in an emergency, an ambulance ride to the ER, and six hours of waiting for a ten-minute consult with an ER doctor.
Part of the wait was about an hour in the ambulance bay with the paramedics because there was no place, literally, for them to take my kid into an ER bed. And consequently, they couldn’t ‘redeploy’ to attend to other emergencies. Then, when we finally got into the ER, I could hear the nursing staff on the phone begging for more staffing, I counted 4 people in the hallways on stretchers (they were the ones that I could see), and the two people in the beds next to us were waiting to be admitted to the hospital – but there were no beds for them.
The second thing that happened is that I had a whole lot of fairly routine bloodwork ordered, but the lab is so backed up that I can’t even get in to get the blood drawn for another week; this after waiting for more than 6 weeks to access my family doctor to get the bloodwork ordered.
Our healthcare system, one that we have been so proud of because of all of Tommy Douglas’ work to ensure that all had access, is stretched beyond what it can handle, and the edges are starting to fray under the pressure. I’m not for a moment, a healthcare analyst, and I know that the contributing factors are really complex, but I do know that we can play a tiny bit of a part in protecting people from having healthcare crisis. Much like the work of Dr. Val Michaelson on Spirituality and Social determinants of health in children, Church and Community can help us adults in maintaining our own physical and emotional health.
How? By loving each other.
I know. Almost ridiculously simple. But there it is. The community that God has called us to will help us be as healthy as we can be. There is a kicker though – the community needs to be fully ‘inclusive and non-discriminatory’. So – our love for each other can’t come with that ugly tinge of judgey behaviour that sometimes goes with church circles. Our love for each other has to come –
Well, from God. Because sometimes we humans are really terrible at loving. And sometimes we humans are really good at judging. But if we tap into that which we know is the pure, healthy love that God offers – then that’s when we can protect our health.
So, while we all despair at the broken state of our healthcare; there is hope. Hope in what God has called us to. Hope in our community.
Blessings today and remember you are loved,
~Rev. Lynne
P.S. The pic today is of the defibrillator in our hall, with a Narcan kit on top of it. I love that the UCW banner is above it. Community and love in action
